We're changing up our teaching slightly, and on the heels of an amazingly fun Crochet Summer 2014, we're kicking off Yarn Fest with two crochet classes designed with knitters and somewhat-reluctant crocheters in mind.

On Thursday, we'll start with a 3-hour Beginning Crochet class. We'll go over crochet basics such as chain stitches, single crochet, and double crochet, as well as working in rounds, increasing, decreasing and counting your stitches. We'll talk about using different yarns to create unique textures, working yarns at different gauges, and demonstrate some spectacular patterns that show off crochet at its finest. Students will have the opportunity to spend the class swatching many different crochet stitches and will leave with two different cowl patterns, plus confidence and the love of a new craft. While this is a crochet class designed for people who have done some crochet previously, we welcome anyone and everyone interested in learning more about the craft!

If you're looking for a full day of Crochet, or already have the "basics" down, on Thursday afternoon, we're teaching Next Steps in Crochet. In this class, we'll review basics like chain stitches, single crochet and double crochet, plus working in rounds, increasing, decreasing and counting your stitches. Using the Summer Dawn cowl pattern we will talk about striping yarns, reading crochet charts and mixing different yarn weights and textures. Students will cast on and work the first few repeats of the cowl and leave with the knowledge to complete a beautiful piece.

On Friday, we're diving back into knitting and will be teaching one of our most popular classes: Demystifying Lace Charts. During the class, students will cast-on and begin knitting the Meadowsweet Shawl, and leave with all of the necessary information to finish the piece. We'll teach the basics of working lace from a charted pattern, including reading a chart key, counting stitches, checking gauge, how to decipher individual stitches, checking to see if mistakes have been made, how to fix mistakes after the fact and working multiple repeats in a single row. Through informative anecdotes, in-class demonstrations, and a healthy does of humor, we guarantee you will not only learn to knit lace from charts, but love doing so!

And, Finally, our Friday afternoon class is all about finishing: Put all of your fears and worries aside: in this class, we’re going to go over common blocking techniques and when to apply them. We’ll also discuss the “S” word: Seaming, why seaming in garments is so important, and teach you the steps to seam your knitting together. We promise once you’ve learned how to do it, you’ll not only never dread it again, you’ll actually enjoy and appreciate the process!